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The Shadow of What Was Lost/Chapter 11
| next= }} Summary Davian and Wirr walk through the night and into the next morning, following the box's signal. Davian is sure that the device is a Wayfinder (one of a pair of objects, that when attuned to each other, act as a sort of compass and always pointed to their counterpart). They come upon a crossroads and Wirr tells Davian that he knows what he is doing. They turn off the path north and head into the Malacar forest.There is a discrepancy here between what the book says and the map that is provided in later books shows. In the book, the boys are heading north on the road between Talmiel and Thrindar and turn east into the forest, but the map clearly shows the Malacar forest would be west of any road between the two towns. The boys head into the quiet forest, and while on the path, Davian starts thinking about how Asha is doing back in Caladel. He misses her but is sure she is in a place safer than where he and Wirr are.We of course know that is not what happened, and that Asha is most definitely not in the safety of the school. Davian and Wirr travel through the forest the entire day until almost sunset, when Davian finally stops and feels the box. It has grown so hot that he can barely hold it in his hand. This indicated they are very close to their target. Only a few more minutes down the road they come across a group of Desrielite soldiers setting up camp in a clearing. Wirr tells Davian to keep walking and not look scared (as that would be the worst thing they could do at the moment). The soldiers notice them passing by, nod politely to Wirr's friendly wave, but ignore them otherwise. The soldiers pass from view and the boys relax, laughing as the both gather their wits after being shaken by walking past the soldiers. They continue along the road for a minute before Davian stops them, pulling the box out of his pocket. It has been growing colder, and the wolf symbol is now pointing them back to the direction they came from, towards the soldiers. Wirr curses and the head back the other direction. The sun has gone below the horizon by the time the boys get back to the camp, using the surrounding brush as cover. Most of the soldiers are lounging around a fire, while two stand watch between the fire and road, and another sits next to a covered wagon. Wirr and Davian wonder if a sig'nari is hiding among the group of soldiers, and find it unlikely, figuring that whomever they are looking for must be locked in the wagon. Both agree that they have come too far to give up now, and decide they are going to have to attempt an escape. Davian and Wirr spend the next few hours waiting and watching the camp, only speaking when necessary, until eventually the soldiers start to fall asleep. Davian asks Wirr for a plan, and Wirr suggests that they sneak up to the guard at the wagon, knock him out, get into the wagon and then disappear back into the forest before anyone else wakes up. Unfortunately, the Tenets prevent him from doing anything useful with Essence to help them . The two boys slowly make their way around the camp to the wagon from the back, and using a branch that he finds, Wirr knocks out the guard. They listen for a moment for cries of alarm and when none come, Davian climbs up to the door of the wagon and opens it. Inside he finds a man chained up and Shackled. He tells the man not to worry, that Ilseth Tenvar sent him, and exits the wagon to go get the keys from the unconscious guard. Back in the wagon Davian gets a better look at the prisoner and how bad his condition is. Massive bruises cover him, one eye swollen shut, smeared in blood, and his breathing is labored. But he is awake and aware and is watching Davian closely. While the two study each other briefly, Davian feels the box in his pocket and notices that when he touches it, the same wolf symbol also appears to glow on the stranger's wrist. When he looks closer, he can see that the wolf symbol is tattooed in thin, black lines on the prisoner. He is the person Davian was sent to find. Davian unlocks the chains and helps the man out of the wagon. As they climb down, they hear a shout from one of the soldiers near the tents. Wirr grabs the other shoulder of the man and all three head towards the forest as the soldiers burst from their tents, weapons drawn. Wirr drops the man and spins to face the oncoming soldiers, stretching out his hands and desperately unleashes cords of Essence at them. Davian watches the Finders on each of the soldier's wrists light up blue and is impressed at this showing of strength from Wirr. As soon as the Essence gets close to the solders though, it vanishes as if it had hit an invisible barrier. At least one of the soldiers have a Trap on them, a device that dissipates all Essence within its radius. Just as the soldiers are closing in, the camp explodes in white light, knocking everyone to the ground. Davian's vision clears and he sees a figure in a black cloak behind the soldiers, moving towards them. The soldiers turn to face the new threat, and the cloaked figure cuts all four of them down in seconds, with an ethereal dagger it conjures from thin air. The creature is only deviated slightly from its path towards Davian and Wirr. It stops a few feet away and speaks to them in a language Davian and Wirr don't understand.We learn what it said in . A torrent of light and Essence suddenly roars past Davian and into the creature. When the light stops, the creature is gone. Davian turns to Wirr in awe, astonished at the amount of power he never knew his friend had, but Wirr stops Davian, telling him that it wasn't him, but rather man they had rescued. The man's Shackle had fallen off upon the last of the soldiers being killed and he had unleashed the blast before passing out. Davian and Wirr's wits finally start returning to them and they agree that after a blast of Essence that large, they need to get moving before more soldiers show up to investigate. Both boys were still gathering themselves when one more flash of light comes from the forest behind them, and before they know it, both are bound by cords of Essence. A deep and angry voice tells them that they better have a good explanation for all that has happened. Right before Davian passes out, one last flash of light illuminates the area.This is Taeris transporting them out of the area, see . Characters Appeared *Aelrith as the cloaked creature *Caeden as the prisoner *Davian *Taeris Sarr as the deep voice *Torin Wirrander Andras as Wirr Mentioned *Ashalia Chaedris as Asha *Ilseth Tenvar Geography *Caladel (mentioned) *Desriel *Eastern Empire *Malacar forest *Thrindar Terms *Essence *Finder *Portal box (as bronze box) *Shackle *Sha'teth (as the cloaked creature) *Sig'nari *Tenets *Trap *Vessel *Wayfinder Category:Chapters